Tie plate



mo 1mm. 7 Wm E. H. BELL TIE PLATE Filed March 8, 1926 H L ll' PatentedDec. 14, 1926.

UNITED sTATEs EDWIN H. BELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PATENT Fries,

min PLATE.

Application filed March. a, 1926. Serial No. 93,073.

This invention relates to improvements in tie plates, and moreparticularly to that type of plates having a plurality of parallelgrooves or recesses in the bottom, the flat te ned, arcuate surfacesof-which intersect to form tie engaging ribs, which extendlongitudinally of the tie, separating, but not cutting the fibres, andcompressing and shaping the top surface of the tie to conform to thecontour of the plate. Tie plates of this type are known to the art ascompress-ion botton1tie plates, and are revealed in my former UnitedStates Letters Patent No. 1,219,224, dated March 13, 1917.

' The .present invention consists in the arrangement and combination offeatures 11- lustrated, described and more particularly.

set forth in the claims hereto appended.

In" the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a tie plate embodying my invent-ion. J

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the plate.

Figure 3 is of the plate, enlarged, the section being taken in thevertical plane indicated bythe dotted line 33 on Figure 4:.

Figure 4 is a transverse, sectional view of the plate, enlarged, thesection being taken in the vertical plane indicated by the dotted line44: on Figure 3.

In said drawings, the plate, indicated as a whole by the letter A, isshown as of typical dimensions, and provided .on its top with a railbearing surface 1, which may be of any desired configuration, but ishere shown as fiat. Upon ,the top of the plate is a transverse, railabutting shoulder flange 2. The top of the plate is inclined. or cantedfrom the base of this flange 2 towards the inner end of the plate. Ateach end of the plate, the top surfaces 3 and 4 are also tapered orinclined towards the ends 5 and 6 re spectively. 7 indicates spikeholes; the numher, size and location of which may be varied alongitudinal, sectional View These grooves or recesses 10, 10, are par.allel, and of such number as to extend from one side to the other sideof the plate and longitudinally thereof below the rail hearing surface 1of the plate top, as shown in Figures 2 and 4:; .The surface of ,eachrecess or groove is .of a flattened curve or are in cross section. Ateach end of these rel cesses 10, and extending transversely across thebottom of the plate,'are tie penetrating, depending ribs 11, 11, asshown in F igures- -2 and 4. These transverse ribs 11, 11, separate thecentral orcompression section from the two end sections 8 and 9.

The arcuate surfaces of the grooves 10 intersect in a plurality ofparallel lines in the same plane and thus produce, in effect, aplurality of parallel, longitudinally extending ribs 12. As the plate isforced into the tie, these ribs 12 enter the tie between 1 the fibres,thus separating and compressing,

but not cutting, the fibres of the tie.

The arcuate surfaces 10 intersect in a plane below the plane of the endsurfaces 8 and 9. This plane may be coincident with the plane of thetips or points of the transverse ribs 11, 11, although as shown herein,

it is slightlv above said plane. That is to say, when the tie plate 'islaid upon the top of the tie. indicated in Figure 3 by the dotted v lineTT, the plate will first rest upon the points of the ribs 11; the planeof the intersecting surfaces to form ribs 12 will be above'the plane ofthe'line T-T, and between the plane of the end surfaces 8 and 9 and theplane of the line TT. The deepest parts of thegrooves 10 will be in aplane 4 still further above. the plane of the surfaces 8 and 9.

It is very desirable in tie plates to configurate the plate so that itwill have the greatest strength where strength is required;

will have the maximum ofholding' power with respect to the tie, and willreadily form its own seat in the tie under load. The plate of thepresent. invention has all of these characteristics. -When first placedin position upon a tie. as indicated in Figure 3, the ribs 11 readilyenter the tie under a very slight tap of a hammer or sledge, whichcauses the plate to remain in its set position without being shifted bythe operation of placing the rail upon the plate, and of spiking therail and the plate to the tie. The plate thus has what I have choosen tocall an initial bearing surface, comprising the ribs 11, 11.

recessed or configurated intermediate It will be noted that this initialbearing surface is in the intermediate portion of: the bottom of the tieplate and its effect is to initally hold the end surfaces 8 and 9 out ofcontact with the tie. As the plate is being further seated into the tieby train loads, the act of compressing the fibres of the tie begins andprogresses perceptibly be fore thebottom surfaces-8 and 9 of the plateends actually contact with the tie. W'ith continuing loads, the plate asa whole is depressed into the tie until finally the entire arcuatesurfaces 10 come to an ultimate rest on the tie, the top surface of thetie being compressed and configurated to form a seat for theconfigurated bottom of the plate. When thus finally seated, the surfaces8 and 9 of the plate will also be slightly imbedded in the tie below theplane T-T of the top surface.

To li hten a tie plate, metal is usually re moved from the medianportions of the bottom; that is, the portion below the rail hearingsurface 1. hen train loads are applied to a tie plate which is incontact at its ends upon the tie, there is a tendency, for the plate tobend or buckle, and in some cases to break. Another difiicultyheretofore experienced in the seating ;of tie plates is due totheresistance caused by the relatively wide,

flat end portions of the plate and which are in the plane of the bottomof the plate as a whole. This resistance, in addition to causingbuckling, makes it difiicult for'the tion to become properly seated. p

In my plate, I find that on account of the non-contact of the endsurfaces 8 and 9, due to the initial bearing or seating provided, nobending or buckling occurs and that parallel, arcuate,

shaping of the top of the tie to conform to the compression bottomintermediate sec tom transversely extending, tie penetrating ribs, a tiebearing surface at each end of the plate outside said ribs, and aplurality of flattened compression grooves extending across the bottomof the plate intermediate the transverse ribs, the surfaces of thegrooves intersecting in lines to form longitudinally extending, dividingribs which initially engage the tie at, or substantially at, the sametime that the transverse ribs enter the surface of the tie.

2. A tie plate having on its top rail bearing surface and a transverselyextending rail abutting shoulder, and having on it bottom transverselyextending, tie penetrating ribs, a tie bearing surface at' each end ofthe bottom outside the transverse ribs, a plurality of parallel,arcuate, compression grooves extending longitudinally of the plateintermediate the transverse ribs, the surfaces of'the said compressiongrooves intersecting to form a plurality of dividing" ribs extendinglongitudinally from one transverse rib to the other, the plane of intersection being below the plane of the end portions of the plate.

In testimony, that I, claim the foregoing as my invention I aifix mysignature this 5th day of March, 1926.

.EDWIN H. BELL.

